Rosebud
by breathing-life
Summary: Ok, so I fell onto the DracoHarry bandwagon! Lets face it - its hot! In this one, a spell by Pansy Parkinson goes awry. Sill girl. Also a little HermioneRon sub-plot. Takes a while to get to the good stuff but you wont be disappointed.
1. Pansy's Plan

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.....there.  
  
Hermione rushed to pack her books and rolls of parchment into her bag. She had been studying for her Potions final in the library at break, and if she didn't hurry she would be late for Arithmency. Lost in her flurry to get packed up, she didn't see Pansy Parkinson - the pug faced Slytherin - slumping into the library followed by Miliscent Bullstrode, friend and fellow Slytherin. They walked discreetly between the aisle's of books searching for L. Hermione threw her bag onto her back and proceeded to pad towards the door.  
  
"Here's one: Love Potions for the Un-estheticaly Pleasing."   
  
Hermione stopped in her tracks, glancing sideways to the aisle the voice was coming from.  
  
"Huh! Well, even though I am of course very estheticaly pleasing it'll have to do - its the only one."  
  
Hermione frowned. *Love spells? I thought we weren't allowed to tamper with matters of the heart?* Hermione recognised the voice and although she was tingling with curiousity of what the pug-faced Slytherin was up to now, the will to get to Arithmency overpowered her will to eavesdrop and she hurried out of the library.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
By dinner, Hermione had forgotton all about what she had heard in the library, though if she had cared to notice, neither Miliscent or Pansy were sitting at their usual place at the Slytherin table - much to the delight of one Draco Malfoy, the object of Panys's affection. Hermione gulped down the remaining roast potato's on her plate with a mouthfull of pumpkin juice while listening, amused, to Harry and Ron, who were telling her Professor Trelawny's new prediction. This time, she had hinted at a "big event" that will change his life forever, and she had said it, according to Ron, with a whistful voice, instead of her usual loom-and-doom voice she used when "predicting" Harry's downfall.  
  
"'I see....a misunderstanding....no, a mistake.'" Ron was saying in his best imression of Trelawny, "'Someone's spell will go awry - it will change your life forever, Harry.....oh this WILL be a big event, a very big event indeed....'. Obviously there will be a big event - the Snow Ball is coming up! That woman's a nutter." mused Ron.  
  
Hermione ganced at Ron, her face full of cynicism.  
  
"Yeh yeh," said Ron, noticing this look, "you told us so."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Hermione's eyes drooped. The words on the parchment spread out in front of her danced on the page - winding around one another. She rubbed her tired eyes and decided to call it a night. She packed her bag, slowly and lazily this time, piled the stack of books she was studying from into her arms and trudged over to put them back. Just as she was about to walk away from the aisle, she heard a set of footsteps. No, there were 2 sets. Coming towards her! She ducked behind the end of the row of shelves and into the next aisle, ears pricked and now a little more alert.  
  
"Pansy I think this is a bad idea."   
  
*Miliscent and Pansy again?*  
  
Hermione doubted the Slytherin girls were studying at this hour.  
  
"Oh shut up, Miliscent its all ready now, I may as well go through with it."  
  
There was a heavy sigh from the other girl. "Fine. I still don't see how this will help you get Draco."  
  
"Because, Miliscent," snapped Pansy, "If every boy in 6th year was in love with me, Draco would see what he's missing and fall at my feet."  
  
"But he wouldn't be missing anything, all those other boys will be under a spell!"  
  
"But DRACO doesn't know that!" Pansy whined. "Hurry up and put that book back, I'm not wasting anymore of my Saturay night in this book cemetery!"  
  
Hermione heard the book being shoved onto the shelves and the feet padding away. She waited until she heard the door close until she let out the deep breath she had been holding. *Pansy wants every boy in 6th year to be in love with her? Just so she can have that sorry excuse for a human?* Hermione would bet good galleons Pansy planned this just in time for the Snow Ball tomorrow night. She had to warn everyone - especially Harry and Ron - Hermione did NOT want her two best friends in love with....that! She marched around to where Miliscent had shoved the book, and carried it back to the Gryffindor common room. 


	2. Elixir of Love

Hermione rushed into the common room to find it empty. Frowning, she glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it reading 2.23am. She ran up the boys corridor to the room Harry and Ron shared with Longbottom and Seamus to find all 4 boys asleep. Defeated, she walked slowly to the girls dormitory. *They'll be doing it at breakfast* Hermione thought to herself. *Whatever IT is.*  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
As soon as Hermione woke up, her mind landed on Pansy Parkinsons sneering face. She glanced at her watch, feeling her stomach lurch to the floor. 10.30!  
  
"OH NO!"   
  
She dressed in a flurry and ran as fast as she could to the Great Hall. Harry and Ron were sitting eating scrambled eggs, deep in conversation with Seamus. She rushed over and sat down, trying to look inconspicuous and failing.  
  
"Er....whats wrong, Hermione?" asked a puzzled Harry.  
  
"Oh nothing....um....have you seen Pansy Parkinson?" she panted as she attempted to pour orange juice into her water goblet, but managing to splash it all over her hands.  
  
"Pansy Parkinson? Why do you care?" asked Seamus.   
  
"Oh no reason." She didn't want to engage in the story with the whole Gryffindor table sitting near them. She cast a 'I need to talk to you too now' look at Harry and Ron. It was completely wasted on them, however, as Hermione could tell from the way they stared blankly at her and then proceeded to converse with Seamus once more. Hermione sighed and glanced around at the Slytherin table, only to see Miliscent and Pansy disappear through the door of the Great Hall. Pansy turned around in the doorway and Hermione was horrified to notice that Pansy had her wand out. She cast it over the room, her lips moving silently. Then she walked away, and Hermione ran after them.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
"I've changed my mind." Pansy muttered to Miliscent as they stood on the stairs. Unknown to them, Hermione stood beneath them, listening intently.  
  
"I'm just going to give the Rose Bud potion to Draco, and watch him fall in love with me. I don't want the other snots in this school....I only want him..." she sighed.  
  
"But wouldn't that mean that all the boys would fall in love with....with Draco?" a shocked Miliscent asked.  
  
Pansy looked blankly at Miliscent. "No....it would mean he falls in love with me."  
  
"But the book said that you give equal shares of the potion to all the boys, then as soon as you drink it yourself they fall in love with you!"  
  
Pansy blinked at Miliscent. "Don't be so stupid, Miliscent I know what I'm doing." She sulked away.  
  
Hermione gasped and headed to the common room. If Miliscent was right, then every boy Pansy had given the potion to would fall in love with Draco Malfoy!   
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Hermione scrambled around the floor looking for the book, and desperately turned the pages until she found the Rose Bud spell.   
  
~*~Guaranteed to make every drinker of the Rose Bud elixir fall in love with the conjorur. Mix the petals of four dead roses together with angel hair and Niamh blood on a full moon. Plant some in a glass pot and give the rest to your chosen person. Before drinking it yourself, add a teaspoon of unicorn tears and jasmine. Love will bloom when the cerise rose is full.~*~  
  
She began to read, and half way through her jaw dropped. Miliscent was right! All that had to be done to make the concoction arrive in the glasses of the drinker was to write the names of the chosen person or people on a piece of pink parchment and plant them with some of the Niamh blood, angel hair and petals, get them in a room together, wave the wand over the room and whisper:  
  
~*~The hearts I seek are in this room  
  
So let the cerise rosebud bloom~*~  
  
Just as Miliscent said, if Draco drinks the concotion made for Pansy, all the boys will fall in love with him!  
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
Hermione's heart was thudding as fast as he feet were moving. All she could think of as she thundered to the Great Hall was Harry and Ron.  
  
*Please don't let them have drank the potion yet! Not them! Not Ron.....*  
  
Hermione skidded to a halt as she reached the Great Hall. A smirking Pansy was pressed against the door, peering in, a little glass bowl full of burgundy earth in her hands.  
  
*God no! Not Ron!*  
  
Hermione couldn't stand to see Ron in love with anyone, let alone Draco Malfoy! But as her tear filled eyes scanned the room and fell on Draco Malfoy - who was taking a huge gulp from his water goblet and frowning in disgust - she knew she was too late. She heard Pansy's ecstatic giggle as a tiny rose grew from the earth in the glass bowl and bloomed into a very beautiful, cerise rose. An estranged cry escaped Hermione's mouth as she walked towards the Gryffindor table. As she passed, she noticed all the boys heads turning to look at the Slytherin table, sneaking looks at Malfoy. Numbly, she sat opposite Harry and Ron. Harry was still shoveling down bacon. A tear rolled down her flushed cheek as she saw Ron, eyes fixed on Malfoy. 


	3. Everybody Loves Draco?

"Goyle, what ARE you staring at?" snapped Malfoy.  
  
Goyle blushed and ran out of the Great Hall. Malfoy stared after him, confused. He turned to his other side-kick, Crabbe, and was surprised to see him look away, blushing.  
  
"Crabbe?" Crabbe giggled and ran out, after Goyle.  
  
Malfoy's eyes followed Crabbe's bulbous behind as he exited the Great Hall. Just as Malfoy's mind was back on the copy of the Daily Prophet, he noticed the most peculiar thing. Every boy in the Great Hall had their wide eye's on him, even that annoyingly fascinating Harry Potter. His face a picture of confusion and suspicion, Malfoy cautiously rose from his seat and walked away, with every intention of retiring in the common room. Unknown to him, every set of testosterone driven eyes were on his bottom.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Draco slumped into the large leather chair, mind wandering to what had just happened in the great hall. His minds eye was fixed on Harry's face. Over the last few years, Draco had aquired somewhat of an obsession with his enemy. What first started off as pure loathing had somehow turned to fascinated.....what? *Love?* Draco snorted. *Ha!* That'll be the day. Yet he couldnt get the Gryffindor out of his head. *Damn Harry Potter*. Draco paced the common room, fighting to be rid of thoughts of Potter. But he couldnt, so he decided to go for a nice long walk.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
The head of every 6th year boy he passed turned on his way to the grounds. *This is starting to get annoying.* His boots crunched the cold ground as he made his way to the lake. He saw Jamie Bellstrowe, a 6th year Ravenclaw sitting by the waters edge, visibly freezing.  
  
"Alright, Bellstrowe?" Draco said as he approached the boy. He had Jamie had always been on good terms. This time however, Jamie looked startled, and blushed, just like Crabbe and Goyle had done.  
  
"D...Draco....hello.."  
  
Draco glanced sideways at the boy, then walked over to join him. He crouched, and was about to engage him in conversation about the last game of Wizards Chess Draco had beaten him at when Jamie stood up quickly. Draco, surprised, stood up too, facing him.  
  
"What's wrong with YOU?" Draco enquired.  
  
"I....I...."  
  
"You....you....what? Come on Bellstrowe spit it out. I've got better things to do than hang around here listening to your ramblings."  
  
"I....love.....you."  
  
Draco stared at Jamie, striken. "Bugger off, Jamie you great prat!" He sneered. *Just a joke*  
  
"No, I mean it Draco..." Jamie said, taking a step towards the startled Slytherin.  
  
Draco was lost for words. For the first time in his life, he had nothing to say. No cutting remark, no nasty wittisism, nothing. All he could do was stare.  
  
"You probably don't beleive me....but its true." Jamie continued, taking another step towards Draco, who now had to step back to avoid their noses touching.  
  
"Ye...yeh right. Good one Bellstrowe." Draco managed. He forced an amused sneer.  
  
Draco's frown deepened as Jamie looked upset. *Is this pillock telling the truth?*  
  
"Why don't you believe me?" Jamie asked, staring at the ground.  
  
*Good God, I don't think he's kidding.* Draco thought in horror. "Er, I'll see you later, Bellstrowe.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Draco hurried back to the Slytherin common room, his insides shaking. He noticed again that every 6th year boy stared. *What in the name of eveything sacred is going on???*   
  
After what seemed like hours Draco was finally stalking up the stairs to the boys dormitory. He threw himself into the room and slammed the door, arms leaning on the pannels. He rested his head on the door, panting. *I have GOT to get to the bottom of this*  
  
"Draco." A voice interrupted him.  
  
*Oh bloody hell*  
  
He turned, reluctantly. It was Goyle, standing uncomfortably close. Draco shifted.  
  
"What is it Goyle?" he asked, irritably.  
  
"Draco, I need to tell you something...."  
  
"What?" He asked, though he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.  
  
"I've had these feelings over the past...well I don't know....they seem t have developed into.....I mean to say, I..."  
  
"You love me?"   
  
Goyle's face brightened. "How did you know?"  
  
Draco's face darkened. He sighed. "Call it a hunch."  
  
Goyle looked sheepishly to the floor. "Do you....love me?"  
  
"Love YOU?" Draco let out a cruel laugh. "No I don't love you!"  
  
The sheepish smile dropped from Goyle's face. He looked Draco straight in the eyes and inched closer. Both boys had now straightened themselves to a taller stance. Draco didn't know whether Goyle was going to punch him or cry. It was the latter, Draco witnessed with a mixture of relief and mild distaste  
  
"I can't handle this." Draco announced as he stroped out of the dorm. 


	4. What Light Through Yonder Bookshelf Brea...

Walking very fast and snarling at every boy who happened to glance his way, Draco scanned the corridors, trying to   
  
think of somewhere to find sanctuary. *The library* No self-respecting 6th year would be in there on a Saturday....  
  
except maybe Hermione Granger. *Do I want to risk running into that Mudblood?*  
  
"Draco! Draco, I love you!" A distant voice cried.....a distant male voice.  
  
*Yes*  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Draco tentavely opened the door, perring through the crack into the library. Just as he'd thought - it was empty.  
  
Sighing with relief, he pushed the door open further and sloped in. *Ok....what now?* Until then, Draco had tried to   
  
steer clear of the library. Now his sanity depended on it and he had nothing to do. He dropped into a chair and rested   
  
his head on the table, pondering the days events.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Hermione sat in silence in front of the fireplace, pretending to listen to Ron gushing over Malfoy. She glared, eyes   
  
glazed over as if in a trance, into the dancing flames of the fire. Her mind was working over-time, trying to think of   
  
something - anything - to break the spell.  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
Ron's voice rocked her out of her trance. "Yes?"  
  
"I said - it is rather odd, isn't it?"  
  
"What is?"  
  
Ron sighed, starry eyed, and threw himself onto the couch next to her.   
  
"Me.....Draco.....the factthat I love him all of a sudden..."  
  
*Draco?* Hermione couldn't take it any longer.  
  
"Love? Ron, you don't love MALFOY - its a spell! Pansy Parkinson.....the stupid..."  
  
But Ron wasn't listening. He gazed into the fire, a wonky grin plastered on his face. Hermione could see it was hopeless.  
  
"I love him so much. When he's not here, I feel....oh why am I talking to you about it? Its not like you understand."  
  
Tears threatened Hermione - lurking behind her eyes. If only he knew how close to home those words were.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
*A love spell, it must be....someone's idea of joke. Potter.*  
  
Just as he was contemplating just why Potter would consider this funny, Draco heard a shuffle of boots behind him, to  
  
his left. His head snapped up, eyes darting from left to right - trying to find the culprit of the noise. Nothing. Silently  
  
rising to his feet, Draco prowled over to the spot he thought the sound had come from. He dived into the aisle in front  
  
of the spot and stopped, peering through the gaps in the books. Peering at....Harry Potter.  
  
Potter seemed unaware of the prying eyes as he flipped the pages of the book he was engrossed in. Draco felt his eyes   
  
wander to Potter's eyelashes - so dainty and soft looking. They were very long, and curved...and framed his emerald  
  
green eyes perfectly....  
  
*What AM I thinking?*  
  
Potter stopped reading. Draco could tell - Potter's eyes had stopped scanning the words and were now perfectly still -   
  
staring at the page.  
  
*Has he heard me?*  
  
Slowly and cautiously, Potter looked up - just in time for Draco to slide along the shelf, out of his view. Potter saw   
  
nothing. Seemingly satisified that he wasn't being watched, he returned to his book. Draco slowly worked his way back  
  
to the gap in the books and again rested his eyes upon the Gryffindor. The candles nearby threw tiny shadows dancing  
  
on Potter's face - his smooth skin glowing in the weak light. Draco couldn't help but notice the way Potter's raven hair  
  
was hanging over his forehead. His eyes wandered down to Potter's hands - strong and manly.  
  
*What on earth....*  
  
Draco's thought was interrupted as Potter's eyes snapped up - and landed on the bewildered face of Draco.  
  
"Hi." said the Gryffindor.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
Hermione and Ron sat side by side - neither speaking - their demeeners contrasting dramatically. Ron: still with his  
  
wonky grin worn only by those in love - and Hermione: tears still brimming her dark eyes. Ron looked into her eyes,  
  
apparently oblivious to the pain concealed withing them.   
  
"Do you think he loves me back?" he asked, looking suddeny pained.  
  
"Ron..." Hermione began, exhasperated. She looked into his big brown eyes and knew she couldn't break his spirit like  
  
this. She sighed, a heavy, sad sigh. "You never know."  
  
Ron face brightened once again.   
  
"Have you ever felt like this? Do you know how love feels?" Ron grinned.  
  
Hermione looked away. Tears had began to fall. She had harboured a secret longing for Ron since the begining of their   
  
3rd year - to see him madly in love with someone else - much less Draco Malfoy - hurt more than she could have   
  
imagined. Spell or not - it was still unbearable. She could only hope he wouldn't act on his infatuation.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
"Er....Hello..." *Hello? HELLO? What sort of greeting is that to give your nemesis?* "...Potter." He added. *Pathetic*  
  
Draco felt like a right pillock. Forcing himself to sneer, he looked into Potter's green eyes. Surprisingly, Potter was   
  
scrambling to close the book and shove it back on the shelf, closing the gap between which they had been looking.  
  
*Potter as well? I can have some fun with this.* 


End file.
